3. APIs Become Digital Glue

Forrester draws a comparison between service-oriented architecture (SOA) and applications platform interfaces (APIs). Like the former, the latter provides “open access to useful functionality through network-based services using technologies that are readily accessible from a broad range of programming environments.” The report sites as examples Amazon.com's product advertising API and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s API which represent business model innovation under this paradigm, while also highlighting the need for ever more sophisticated security given the exposure of data to a much broader set of individuals. (Text credit: Peter High)